[PUP] Thoughts on Piracy (LONG)

[Peter Pisciotta]

When the topic of piracy comes up, I always wonder,
how much of a problem is there? Can the risk be
managed?

Jimmy Cornell's www.noonsite.com seems to be the best
source for yachting piracy reports - indeed, its the
most visited part of the highly regarded
www.noonsite.com website. There are 3 incidents listed
for 2006, one being a repelled boarding (the captain
is not certain the 'attackers' were actually pirates,
one is everyone's worst nightmare (attack, rape,
theft, etc).

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/doina/R2006-07-18-4

This article from Trinidad, a well known crime center,
talks a lot about dighy/outboard theft, but only
referenes one boarding/attack (as if one attack is
acceptable...)

http://www.noonsite.com/Members/doina/R2006-08-05-1

Another site is assembled by the German author of
trying to gather data for a book. He's assembled a
list of all yacht piracy incidents he's been able to
find, dating back to the early 1990's:

http://yachtpiracy.org/en/list_of_attacked_yachts.htm

There's not much info on the nature of the attacks,
but it seems like a bunch of them occur in the Red
Sea/Gulf or Aden; Venezuela, Somolia, and a few other
known hotbeds. The book details 75 acts of yacht
piracy, some terrible (murder, rape, etc), others are
agressive theft - the thieves don't care that there's
someone aboard.

Here's some guidance from Jimmy Cornell about keeping
piracy in perspective
===========================================
"In a survey conducted among a large sample of
cruising sailors in the latter part of 2001 I found
that the threat to their personal safety is now
perceived as the main risk in offshore cruising. While
there is no doubt that the overall situation has
deteriorated in recent years, one should make a
genuine attempt to see matters in perspective. However
frightening and upsetting the 75 cases mentioned in
this book may sound, I hazard to guess that every year
there are at least as many violent attacks and even
murders of visitors in some well known landbased
tourist destinations, and yet very few, if any,
seriously consider not going on holiday to Los
Angeles, South Africa, Egypt or Moscow."
===================================

Reading through the incidents, I was struck by a
couple thoughts:

1. Is being armed and fighting back really the best
response? The Brazilian Police speculated this led to
the death of NZ sailing legend Peter Blake during a
piracy attack 5 years ago.
http://www.latitude38.com/features/Blake.htm

2. Is it reasonable to believe I could repel boarders?
The incidents I was able to find seemed to have at
least 3 intruders who were armed, and sometimes drunk.
I'm not a retired cop, navy seal, or special forces
expert ( though I did get a Boy Scout merit badge for
marksmanship). 

3. How much am I willing to worry about piracy? Well,
since I'm not planning to venture too far anytime
soon, it's a non-issue. But theoretically, in light of
all other dangers (fire, sinking, storm, falling
overboard, etc), how much priority should be placed on
piracy issues? I gotta say that being boarded,
beaten-up, and having my wife/girlfriend/partner raped
rattles me deep to the pit of my stomach, in a way
that fire/MOB just doesn't. But setting emotion aside
(if possible), is it really an issue that deserves
much attention?

4. Many of the piracy hotspots are well known, though
there's no guarantee an old spot won't reignite at
exactly the time I'm there (Guatemala's Rio Dulce, for
example). According to the German author cited above,
most of the problems are in Sulu (Phillipines), South
China Sea, Somolian, and the Gulf of Aden. And there
are pockets that erupt due to poverty - Brazil,
Venezuela, Columbia, Guatemala, etc. 

5. Yacht piracy pales in comparison to ship piracy.
Somewhere between 300 and 400 ships each year are
fired-up, boarded, stolen, etc. According to the
author guy above, about 20 yachts on average succumb
to a similar fate. 

Interesting topic -

Peter
www.SeaSkills.com
(currently in Detroit - where street 'piracy' is a
real threat).

=======================
Peter Pisciotta
415-902-8439


 
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